News Stories
VILLAGE REPLACEMENT LEVY PASSES
The New Concord 2020 replacement tax levy was passed in the November election. Seventy-six percent of New Concord residents voted in the election with 549 votes for the levy and 202 votes against the levy.
This tax began in 1985 and has been renewed by residents every five years. The replacement levy, also called the street levy, will go towards roadway repairs and maintenance for sidewalks and alleys in New Concord.
New Concord Village Administrator Charlotte Colley sees the tax levy being a step in the right direction when it comes to larger projects, making sure the streets and sidewalks are safe in the village.
“We as a village didn’t want to throw chances in the wind and not have enough to help with the big projects. This street levy will help us focus not just on the little bumps in the road, but will help repair the bigger projects and help keep the roads as repaired as possible,” said Colley.
The money will not only help repair the streets and sidewalks, but it will also go towards making sure the village has enough salt in the winter to keep the roads as safe as possible.
“We know that during this time the roads can get pretty damaged and so we want to do our best to keep that from happening,” said Colley.
The larger road improvement projects are expected to begin in the summer after the winter and spring seasons have ended. In the meantime, there will be small improvements made throughout New Concord.
POLICE DEPARTMENT HOSTING DRUG TAKE BACK DAY
The New Concord Police Department will be participating in the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) 19th National Prescription Drug Take Back Day Saturday, Oct. 24 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at Village Hall.
This event is hosted nationwide in April and October each year to allow people to drop off any unwanted, expired, or unused prescription drugs with no questions asked.
This will be New Concord Police Chief Mindy Peck’s third year doing this event with NCPD.
“Anybody can come and bring any unwanted drugs like pills, and this year we are doing liquid medicine too,” said Peck.
The drop-off process is easy and fast.
“We don’t know what people are bringing in and it is none of our business. We just want them off the streets and out of hands of individuals. It’s always best to just bring it in, open it, dump their stuff, and then take their bottles home,” said Peck.
If residents wish to no longer keep the medicine bottles, make sure the label is peeled off or scratched out with a black marker before drop off.
Electronic cigarettes and vaping devices are accepted only if the batteries have been removed from the device. Diabetic equipment will not be accepted.
“We do not take syringes. …I advise them [participants] to go to Zanesville-Muskingum County Health Department. They can take sharps,” said Peck.
They will also not accept illicit substances such as marijuana or methamphetamine.
Due to COVID-19 concerns this year, participants are required to wear a mask when entering Village Hall.
STORYFEST 2020 LIVE ON THE RADIO
The third annual Big Fish Folklife StoryFest will be broadcasted Sunday, Sept. 6 on WMCO 90.7 from 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m. This year’s theme is “Light-Hearted Stories from the Inside-Out.”
Founder Prof. Rachel Pollock and managing director Tim Pollock are the event organizers.
The Pollocks created this non-profit organization as a recreation of something that would bring the community together in the same spontaneous feeling and outpouring after the John Glenn High School basketball state championship in 2016.
“We tagged on to what they [the village] were already doing over Labor Day. Wanting to throw a festival with the same kind of feeling where it would be free, bring all the people together, and bring all the businesses together,” said Rachel.
Rachel studied storytelling and has been to storytelling festivals, including the national festival in Tennessee. With Tim being pastor of Bloomfield United Presbyterian Church, they thought this would be a great way to also incorporate local churches into the event.
“Our goal from the start was to bring storytelling back out to this area and also to bring in a venue so that people who were artists in a small town had a chance to express themselves,” said Rachel.
With recent events because of COVID-19, the Pollocks did not want to cancel this year’s event. They knew that some of the full-time artists couldn’t file for unemployment. When everything shut down, some artists lost their means of supporting themselves.
“These are artists that really need this. They really need to connect with audiences. They all have this gift that really needs to be shared with other people,” said Rachel.
Working together with WMCO radio is the best way to keep the StoryFest vision alive, but also gave them a new perspective on how to come together as a community.
“There’s something special about being very much focused on the storytelling and the music and partnering with broadcasting. We are going to be focusing more on the artists and the audiences. Less is more,” said Tim.
They are hoping this year’s event is not only a safe way to bring people together but also a way to cheer people up with everything going on in the world. A little less focus on being alone, helping people find a way to be together as a community.
HIGH-SPEED CHASE ENDS ON FOOT IN NEW CONCORD
A man and a woman were arrested in New Concord Thursday afternoon after they led police on a high-speed chase that started in Cambridge. Two Orbit Media reporters saw the vehicle chase pass through New Concord around 1:55 p.m.
According to Cambridge Police Department Lieutenant Dave Peoples, “the violator truck did not stop upon an officer initiating a traffic stop.”
The driver led the chase onto Interstate 70 and reached speeds over 100 MPH. The suspects continued westbound. “There was an attempt to deploy spike strips, but the violator vehicle swerved at the trooper so the spike strips were retracted,” said Peoples.
The driver exited at I-70 169 northbound and led police into New Concord. The chase continued onto State Route 83 and the vehicle pulled into the Beckett House healthcare facility, before John Glenn School Road.
The man and woman vehicle occupants fled on foot. The female was located first and was taken into custody. The male was tracked in the woods by Cambridge Police K-9 Officer Buddy within 10 minutes.
The male was taken into custody from a grass field off of McCall Lane.
Assisting in the response were Ohio State Highway Patrol, Muskingum County Sheriff, Guernsey County Sheriff, New Concord Police, and Muskingum University Police. EMS was called to the scene for the male suspect. He was taken into police custody after treatment.